IHE has a story today about a threatened revocation of accreditation for a small college in North Carolina.
From reading the story, you have to wonder just what accrediting is for. The troubles found by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools at St. Andrews Presbyterian College are “failure to comply with requirements surrounding financial resources, financial stability and control of finances.”
Since 68 percent of the students at the school receive federal financial aid, to revoke its accreditation — thereby making the students ineligible for aid if they continue at the school — is rather like saying, “if you can’t clear up that acne, we’ll chop off your head.”
Apparently SACS finds no problem with the educational program at St. Andrews, but utterly disapproves of the way it handles its money.
Is there really a financial problem at St. Andrews? Its president says that the school has never been in better shape.
The school will appeal and maybe this whole dispute will go away. But it certainly appears that a small college is being put through the wringer for little or no reason.